The development of premature infant care in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century will be examined in this investigation. The specific aims are to describe and analyze social, cultural, and economic conditions that redefined prematurity and led to the allocation of financial and medical resources; to examine practices of premature care early in the twentieth century and trace changes until 1950; to analyze the work of nurses caring for premature infants; and to examine influential technological innovations. Professional nurses have had pivotal roles in the care of these infants since the first premature nurseries opened in France. In this country, graduate nurses were often hired to staff premature nurseries in a time when student labor was the norm. This study will shed light on this early area of specialization for nurses and may also provide an understanding of the changing views Americans demonstrated towards the youngest and smallest members of society. As the perceived limits of viability of premature infants are continually being pushed back in the 1990's it is important to understand the arguments and methods used by earlier generations to facilitate life-saving care for these babies.